Patient supports, such as hospital beds, mattresses, stretchers, operating room tables, and the like, are commonly used in a variety of care environments to facilitate patient care and transport.
User modules are often provided to enable a user to perform a variety of automated functions relating to a patient support. Examples of such automated functions include raising or lowering one or more sections of the patient support, adjusting the configuration of a bed frame or support surface or a portion thereof, and activating or deactivating selected therapies, alarms, communications, and other automated features of the patient support. As such, user modules may be operably coupled to a bed and/or support surface controller or control system, a remote computer, an air supply or other like service supply or supplies.
Many conventional user modules are either fixed in or coupled to a siderail or footboard of a patient support, or are provided as pendants or removable modules that may be stored in the siderail or footboard and removed for use.
Healthcare professionals often have many demanding responsibilities and need to work as efficiently as possible. However, many conventional patient support user modules are cumbersome for a caregiver or technician to use due to a non-intuitive design, inefficient feedback from the module or other reasons. Such shortcomings can result in reduced efficiency of caregivers and other healthcare professionals.
Clear, succinct, easy to understand instructions for using the module are often desirable. Non-textual indicators that can quickly be understood without requiring fluency in any particular language may also be desirable. Particularly with graphic displays, lack of user-friendly feedback can leave users in doubt as to whether their input selections have been accepted by the user module. Additionally, with larger amounts of informational content being provided on compact displays available to caregivers in patient care environments, verification of a single changed parameter on such displays can become exceedingly difficult. Further, the lack of a clear, easy to understand or current depiction of information such as the patient's weight, therapeutic settings, status of the patient support, and historical data can result in not only inefficiencies but also user frustration if the caregiver's time must be spent figuring out how to use the module rather than on providing patient care.
Some patient supports are configured to provide therapeutic functions or features to the patient, for example, pressure redistribution, turning assistance, rotation, percussion and vibration, low air loss, and the like. Pressure redistribution generally refers to efforts to reduce or redistribute pressure away from parts of the patient's body that are in frequent contact with the patient support, in an effort to reduce the risk of the patient developing pressure ulcers or bed sores. Turning assistance refers to a feature in which either longitudinal side of the bed or mattress is automatically raised to assist a caregiver in turning the patient onto his or her side. In general, rotation therapy provides periodic rotational motion for the patient in order to avoid physiological issues related to prolonged confinement to a patient support apparatus. In patients that have pulmonary infections or conditions, rotation may also be used to help mobilize the secretions of the lungs by angling the chest so that secretions can move away from the affected lobe. Percussion and vibration are also therapies directed to pulmonary infections such as pneumonia and other lung complications. In general, percussion helps mobilize secretions from the lung, while vibration helps columnize the secretions to help create a productive cough. Low air loss generally refers to a process whereby air is circulated underneath the patient to provide a cooling effect.
Patient supports that provide one or more of such automated therapy functions and features also have a user interface for a caregiver to control the operation of such features. Because such features often involve movement of the patient, appropriate configuring, operation, and duration of the automated therapy function is important. Therefore, it is particularly desirable to address all of the shortcomings of known user modules in this environment.